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Friday,
August 3,
2007, #147 (1414) By Ana Kvrivishvili The Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA) slammed the Tbilisi city government at a July 30 press conference for, they said, infringing on private property rights. Giorgi Chkheidze, the GYLA chairman, expressed concern that a July 20 decree issued by the Tbilisi city government will strip dozens of city residents of their properties. The government argues that certain plots of land were given to citizens between 1994 and 1999 by a "non-plenipotentiary agency" of the Tbilisi government, when according to the law at the time only the city mayor possessed the authority to confer property rights. The land in question is therefore illegally occupied, states City Hall. "The decree allows the government to expropriate private property and throw residents out of their own houses," Irakli Tsnobiladze of GYLA told the Messenger. The effects have already been felt by some of the capital's citizens. Deeming Tabukashvili #50 to be an illegal structure, the Tbilisi municipality supervision service ordered its demolition as soon as the decree was passed, leaving 26 families homeless. GYLA representatives accuse City Hall of misinterpreting the law, declaring this city government to be the one acting illegally. They suggest that the mid-1990s decrees did in fact have the approval of the Tbilisi mayor, as well as the municipality cabinet. The group called on citizens to protect their own rights, but also promised legal assistance to anyone who required it. "We are ready to assist citizens affected during the administrative proceedings at Tbilisi City Hall and later, if they need to continue the proceeding in the courts, we will come to their aid there as well," Tsnobiladze said. On July 26, a national law on property legalisation went into force, forbidding state authorities from investigating the legality of private properties. The city mayor now has exclusive authority on this issue. City Hall representatives
would not respond to repeated requests for comment.
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Tbilisi
City Hall under fire for decree on "illegal" properties